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Thursday, 15 October 2015

It's been a rather madcap week or so here at Casa Mia, so we're looking forward to the end of next week when it will be half term ... whoopeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee - not that I'm excited you understand!

It's new challenge time at Feeling Sketchy and there's another great sketch for you courtesy of Michelle. Plenty of scope for creativity with this one, I feel:

As usual, we've got a lovely sponsor for you. This time, it's Heather Valentin from Lacy Sunshine who is kindly offering our lucky winner a prize pack. Heather also offered the DT their choice of image to showcase for this challenge - thank you Heather! So, without futher ado, here is my card for you featuring one of Heather's pretty images:

I'll apologise now as this post is going to be VERY photo heavy ... this Pop Up Box card was not the easiest thing in the world to photograph, so I've got plenty of pics from plenty of angles to show you! Tee hee!!!!! :oD

Just in case you were wondering about how my card fits the sketch layout, I imagined the foliage to be the sentiment, the goblet to be the pocket, and the girl as one of the tags coming out of the pocket. The box sides and back provide the card shape. This is the first time I've made a Pop Up Box card, and it may well be the last. The air wasn't quite blue, but I wasn't terribly ladylike ........ ooooops!!!!!!

Papers - are by Paulette at Create with TLC and I think these were a blog freebie in December 2012. They are called Chritmas Mist Papers 4 and I used them on all the external box sides. For the internal box sides, I again tried the technique of inking an embossing folder which I had seen demo'd by Sara Davies of Crafter's Companion. I'm much happier with the result this time which I did on smaller pieces of Sheena Stamping Card. I used the Vintage Christmas "Snowflake Flutter" embossing folder for this together with a pearlescent blue Brilliance ink pad. This embossing folder was one of the goodies which came with Issue 5 of the Crafter's Inspiration magazine.

Please do head over to the Feeling Sketchy challenge blog and see the other wonderful inspiration from my incredibly talented teamies. While you're there, take a peek at the Special World Card Making Day Challenge where the inspiration is beautiful autumnal colours and there are some great prizes on offer too!

Tuesday, 6 October 2015

Hope you are well today and not overwhelmed by the wet weather that seems to have hit the UK. Yesterday, Papa Mia's weather station recorded over an inch of rain in 24 hours ... it's a far cry from the gorgeous sunshine we experienced last week!

As promised in yesterday's post, I'm back today with another inspiration card for the current challenge at Incy Wincy Designs. Just as a recap, this week's challenge is Thankful for you so we're looking for your projects which say "Thank you"!

Today I'm showcasing an image from our second sponsor, who is our very own Nikki from Limited Runs Digital Stamps. In yesterday's post, I used an image drawn by Emma Canning from Flat Friends Boutique. Both ladies are very kindly offering a prize pack, so we'll have 2 lucky winners on Monday!

For this card I've been inspired by 2 current challenges: the first is the World Card Making Day Special Challenge at Feeling Sketchy (which Cathy invited us DT girls to take part in) and the second is the current sketch at Sketch Saturday which, being CAS, is right up my street!

So, without further ado here is today's card for you:

My card recipe is as follows:

Card base - is Kraft cardstock which has been cut, scored and folded to a 9.9cm square card

Sentiment - has been CASE'd from Bugaboo's Coffee Time - Thanks a Latte image and sentiment set. However because Jodi's sentiment didn't fit the sketch layout, I've retyped this in my word processing package using a free font called Coffee House and coloured it to tie in with the colour swatch. I cut the sentiment into a fishtail banner shape, before distressing the edge with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink.

I hope you'll come over to Incy Wincy Designs and check out the wonderful creations by my fab team mates ... also, please say farewell to Amy who is leaving us after this challenge :o( Bye Amy, I shall miss your gorgeous creations.

As a result, we are having a DT Call! Sooooooo, if you're interested in joining our fun team (and we do have fun!), please send an email to incywincychallenge@hotmail.com with a link to your site, and tell us a little bit about yourself!!! No DT experience is necessary - we are just looking for HAPPY crafters who like to have a good time. You must be able to work with digital images and be able to create on a weekly basis.

Monday, 5 October 2015

Hope you all had a great weekend! Casa Mia was the usual round of Mini Squad Swimming, followed by Rookies Life Guards with a Sunday School session as dessert!

This morning sees our new challenge at Incy Wincy Designs and this week we're Thankful for You - we want to see your projects that say "Thank You".

We've got 2 great sponsors for you this week. First up is the lovely Emma Canning from Flat Friends Boutique and our second sponsor is our very own Nikki from Limited Runs Digital Stamps. Both ladies are very kindly offering our 2 lucky winners a prize pack, and we have also been given digis by both artists to showcase.

I was fortunate to meet Sara Davies and Debbie Fisher from Crafter's Companion last weekend at a Hobbycraft store near me, as Sara was demoing her Signature Range. They were both really lovely and only too happy to share their talents with us fans! I have taken Sara's idea (rather badly I might say!) of inking an embossing folder before running it through with card to transfer the ink and embossing pattern onto the card. Sara's card looked gorgeous ... mine definitely looks like a beginner's been at work ;o) !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tee hee.

I must apologise for the wonky photo - I was trying to photograph it whilst out and about and the batteries in the camera I normally use ran out (typical!) so I was using my phone. The card was on a railway sleeper that lines the car park at youngest Bambino's gymnastics club, I was on my elbows and knees, the sun was shining so I couldn't really see the screen ... I must have looked a very peculiar sight, so I just pressed the button and hoped for the best!

My card recipe is as follows:

Card base - is a premade white card blank which is about 14.8cm square

Background - is a 14cm square piece of Neenah cardstock which has been embossed with my Embossalicious Geometric Motif Embossing Folder (unfortunately, this lovely design is no longer stocked for sale) and Distress Inks in Picked Raspberry and Peacock Feathers. I have matted and layered this onto a piece of pale pink Core'dinations Card

Sentiment - was a freebie from the June 2015 Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine. I stamped this in pink ink onto Neenah cardstock and then stencilled round the inside of the medium oval die from the Die'sire Tags One set (unfortunately I can't find this one for sale any longer either!). I then die cut the medium oval tag from the pink Core'dinations Card, threaded some twine through it and fixed it all to my card. I added a bow to the side, just for a bit of interest!

I hope you'll come over to Incy Wincy Designs and check out the wonderful creations by my fab team mates ... also, please say farewell to Amy who is leaving us after this challenge :o( Bye Amy, I shall miss your gorgeous creations.

As a result, we are having a DT Call sooooooo, if you're interested in joining our fun team, please send an email to incywincychallenge@hotmail.com with a link to your site, and tell us a little bit about yourself!!! No DT experience is necessary - we are just looking for HAPPY crafters who like to have a good time. You must be able to work with digital images and be able to create on a weekly basis.

Thursday, 1 October 2015

Well today, I can finally share the news I've been bursting to tell you for the last 3½ weeks! I entered the DT call and have been selected to join the Design Team at Feeling Sketchy for the autumn/winter 2015-16 term!!!!!! Regular readers will know that I often join in with sketch challenges, so this probably won't surprise some of you at all :o) ! The team has some old and new faces and all I can say is Wow, some of these girls are totally awesome designers ... you are going to be blown away by their takes on Mich's great sketches.

So, this morning brings the start of Challenge #130 and here is the sketch we'd like you to follow:

This challenge is bring kindly sponsored by Jodie and the team at Bugaboo Digital Stamps: Jodie has supplied some images for the existing DT members to use, but all us new girls had to use this sketch as the basis of our DT Application (great idea Cathy!), so we're not necessarily using sponsor images this time. Don't forget that Jodie offers a Freebie every Friday, so why not head over to her store and check out this week's freebie, plus inspiration using it from the Bugaboo Design Team.

Anyway, here's my card using Mich's sketch as the basis of my design:

My card recipe is as follows:

Card base - is regular lightweight cardstock, which I have cut, scored and folded to around 9cm square. I've then taken my largest Die'sire Essentials Star die and ensured that the top point of the star is well over the fold of my cardstock, and then die cut this to give an opening base card

Design Paper - is called December Snows Paper 4 and is by Paulette at Create with TLC. This paper was part of Paulette's December 2012 "Club" and has a very elegant navy blue pattern on a dark grey background, with swirling snowflakes.

Image and Sentiment - are both by Marisa Lerin at Pixel Scrapper Digital Scrapbooking. The Shooting Star comes from the Outer Space Illustrations Kit, and the Star of Wonder sentiment comes from the Star of Wonder Kit. I digitally merged these 2 items, resized them to fit my card base and printed them out. I coloured the star and it's tail using my silver gel pen before fussy cutting them and I also cut a fish tail banner into the sentiment.

This card was quite quick and easy to make, and I think a few of these little mini cards (it's around 7.5cm square!) bagged together might go down well at my Church's Christmas Fayre next month.

I hope I've inspired you to have a go with Sketch Challenge #130 but if you need further inspiration, please head over to Feeling Sketchy and check out the awesome and varied creations from my team mates. Then come back and share your project featuring our sketch - this challenge closes on Wednesday October 14th 2015.

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About Me

Hi. I'm Helen, a 40-something married Mum of 2, and have been "crafty" as long as I can remember! One of my earliest crafting memories is of my Nan helping me to knit clothes for my Barbie.
I started card-making in April 2011, and this takes up most of my craft time ... I think it's safe to say it's very addictive! When I get the chance I also enjoy cross stitching and, when time allows, dressmaking and lace making. I am a leader at my church's Sunday Club and I've just discovered digital scrapbooking, so I'm helping my youngest preserve her memories from her latest school trip!
Thanks for visiting my blog - I hope you enjoy my creations.
x

The "small" print!

I try to provide links to the materials I've used on my creations which are correct at the time of posting. Unfortunately, over time items go out of stock and websites are closed down. I apologise for any incovenience this may cause.

I hope you enjoy looking at my creations and that I inspire you, but please respect my work and that of the artists who designed the images - please do not copy my designs or claim them as your own if entering competitions or challenges!